Distribution - Digital Content's Unresolved Problem

DataPlay has plans to work with the recording industry by launching music titles itself, and distributing them through its partners. Presently, those partners are Universal, EMI, and BMG, a formidable list. Add to that list of luminaries companies that have poured over $60 million into the company, companies like Sharp, Samsung, and SONICblue. Formidable, but I am not sure whether the risk of pushing the format initially itself, even with stellar distribution, is the right strategy.

After all, you pay for the content, and the DataPlay disk will your choice for the convenience, or the range of devices that support it. DataPlay has to play chicken and egg by getting the media into our hands while hoping that hardware that supports its format gets our attention, too. Daunting task. Who knows if they can pull it off. I love the idea of DataPlay, but I used to wear bell bottoms too so, what do I know.

There is also the issue of the encrypted content on the disks. For example, you might buy a DataPlay disk with 3 or 4 CDs worth of music. You get the first album with your in store purchase, and then, you can buy any of the other albums on the same disk by going to a Web site, and purchasing an encryption key. This would apply equally to DataPlay disks that may be used in handhelds to hold applications, or games. Same principle. Can't say that I believe that consumers are that motivated when it comes to the purchase process, which is where the whole issue of protecting digital content really breaks down for me.

Isn't the real problem with casual copying the fact that most of us don't know what we want, and are not willing to pay to experiment? Will a new format really get us excited to buy content, and then unlock more of it as we go along? I don't know. I think the beauty of Napster is that it gives us the freedom to browse, or rather it did, and that in turn made us more comfortable about buying new content. I think in the short term, something like DataPlay is the future of digital content, and even if it doesn't take off, something akin to it will. Whether it's a Memory Stick or CompactFlash, or a portable hard drive the size of a postage stamp.

However, securing digital content through media, doesn't really do much more than, for example, replacing CDs with something like a CD, but smaller. Maybe, recordable isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Convenience, ease of use, ease of access, all these things matter when it comes to content. Value for money, too. About the only time content generates consumer motion is a trip to the movies, or as is the common practice, a trip to the video store. Admit it. You hate browsing CD stores. You hate video stores, really, but what else are you going to do? Watch TV?

Maybe that's why the best casual copiers are students, or teens. They're motivated to get content because, it's a part of their vernacular, their peer dominated culture, and the lack of finances adds that extra kick. As we get older, we kind of realize that the being the first family on the block with the new Hole album is not necessarily as important as making sure we have enough antacid in the house.

Yeah, I guess digital content security, copyright protection, or whatever you choose to call it, is a cultural and social issue. It's a non-issue, too. Unless someone is running a business copying disks and selling them for a tenth of the retail price of a CD, it's all casual, and no business is being lost. I mean, I found an old Steve Arrington song on Napster once, and it's out of circulation. Used to listen to it about seventeen years ago. Thought it was cool that I could find it. Nostalgia, and all that. Was I even remotely interested in tracking the song down, and getting the Songs in the Key of Life album? Not really. Search, download, and play. Then, bye. That was business that never was, would be, could be, or should be.

I may not be a typical consumer, the kind that the RIAA is trying to corral. But, I do know one thing, whether it is swapping music files, software, or hundreds of PlayStation titles, if people hadn't been able to copy them, people would not have been doing anything with them including buying them. That's why it is called casual copying. It's casual bordering on apathy. Take it away, and no one will miss it more than the people who were truly motivated by it. The rest of us are moving on. No CD sales jumping through the roof, no video sales going exponential, no docile citizenry settling down to a quiet night of easy listening.

Anyhow, DataPlay isn't available until the end of this year. Formats for portable, universal content are going to have the greatest impact on securing digital content. Whether they perform from a technical point of view, we won't be able to tell for a while. Simple to see the logic behind it. AAC, WMA, MPEG4, MP3, all shrink the files so, then you have to shrink the media. At some point we will all start to rave about DVD Audio or Super Audio CD, and then the little portable media and all the copyright brouhaha of today will fade away to be replaced by angry citizenry demanding higher quality from the little audio players stuck in their ears. There's another future for you.

Meanwhile, most of you reading this will be ripping, and copying, and sharing, and doing all those things that politicians and industry cabals find so annoying. The only sure thing is that nothing changes, except the media.